Bottles typically include a body, a shoulder, a neck, and a neck finish. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2012/0000878 illustrates an example glass bottle of this general type. Such bottles may be produced using a blow-and-blow manufacturing process or a press-and-blow manufacturing process, and typically have substantially uniform wall thicknesses. Moreover, longneck bottles are popular in the beverage packaging industry, particularly for packaging beer. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2010/0264107 illustrates example longneck bottles having necks with internal ribs produced by forming external ribs on necks of parisons and pushing the external ribs into the necks during blowing of the parisons into the bottles.
A general object of the present disclosure, in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure, is to provide a bottle that includes abridge establishing a fluid channel for improved product dispensing, and that does not require unconventional neck ring equipment or an unconventional closure design for the container.
The present disclosure embodies a number of aspects that can be implemented separately from or in combination with each other.
A glass bottle in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure includes a body, a shoulder at one end of the body, a neck extending from the shoulder, and a finish at an end of the neck spaced from the shoulder, wherein the base, the shoulder, the neck, and the finish have circular cross sections coaxial about a longitudinal axis of the bottle. The bottle is characterized in that a bridge forms a fluid channel for pouring or venting depending upon orientation of the bottle during pouring, and extends radially outwardly on the neck, from a location spaced axially from the finish to the shoulder. The bridge includes an outer wall offset radially outwardly with respect to walls of the neck and the shoulder. The outer wall includes, in transverse cross section, an incurvate inner surface. The bridge also includes a pair of side walls extending between the outer wall of the bridge and the walls of the neck and shoulder. The side walls include, in transverse cross section, straight inner surfaces disposed at chordal angles with respect to the circular cross sections. The fluid channel is established between the inner surface of the bridge outer wall and inner surfaces of the neck and shoulder walls.
In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a bottle that extends along a longitudinal axis and includes, a base, a body extending from the base, a shoulder extending from the body and including a shoulder wall, a neck extending from the shoulder and including a neck wall, and a finish terminating the neck. The bottle also includes a bridge forming a fluid channel, and extending radially outwardly from and longitudinally along the neck at a non-zero angle with respect to the longitudinal axis, from a location spaced axially from the finish, toward the body, and across at least a portion of the shoulder. The bridge includes an outer wall that is offset radially outwardly with respect to the walls of the neck and the shoulder and, in transverse cross section, has an incurvate inner surface. The bridge also includes side walls extending between the outer wall of the bridge and the walls of the neck and shoulder and, in transverse cross section, having straight inner surfaces disposed at chordal angles.